Pretty fall colors

 With all of the crafty people and artisans displaying their talents, I always am up for a new challenge when I see what can be created with little or no expense.  We have so many leather scraps from the Mr.'s hobby that I decided to try my talents.  At our small library, there is a box in the entry way for people to leave discarded magazines and are free for the taking.  I leave mine there, but I also scrounge for things I have not seen.  In a batch of old magazines from the 90's I found a few to take and peruse.  There was an article about making fall pins from leather and the leaf patterns were included.  So these are about 1" to 1 1/2" across and all that is left is to add the pin backs.  I got help from the Mr. to determine which tools I needed to cut the patterns into the wet leather and shape them and when they were dry, I painted them with acrylic and sprayed a sealer.  Voila!  No cost and now I am thinking of making a leather cuff.  I saw them for as much as $65.00 in shops not long ago. And now another gorgeous sunrise taken from my back door this weekend.  Love the fall colors.

"Every man is the architect of his own virtues" ~ Sallust

Stretched out for a nap

 Hunting has been a little slow this summer for this cat and like all cats, she can sleep anywhere and any time.  I caught her above stretched out on the bed, across a "grabber" that the Mr. uses.  I love my cat!!  I have been sewing a quilt, in a race with my neighbor to see who can finish first.  This is really not a fair race as I have many quilts under my belt, and she is still somewhat a beginner, although a skilled one, but it has been motivation for both of us to finish.  Her mom participates in a large craft fair this fall in Sheridan and we are embarking on another craft project, hoping to test it out for her mom.  Below are some of the items we will be using.  Stay tuned!

Orange

 This is the "Blood Moon Rising" in the east last month and this is the carrot that grew in my garden.  This is the ORANGE. We put everything to bed this weekend....the watering system, the garden, the yard.  Orange pumpkins are popping up everywhere. Actually, although it is fall, we got our first snow yesterday.  According to the weatherman, it is supposed to be warm this week, even summer-like. May have to drag out the hoses.

I was gone this past week and have spent time putting up veggies like the carrots so the blog is still suffering with neglect.  However with winter approaching and our fall fading from orange white, I will be spending more time indoors.  So, I went to Sheridan last week with my neighbor and that drive of nearly 5 hours was beautiful and our destination was even more so.  At the foot of the Big Horn mountains and 12 miles out of town, the tree-lined road was sprinkled with ranches and signs of an earlier era. The deer grazed in pastures in large herds and the wild turkeys roamed in flocks in numbers I had never seen before.  We have a small flock near here, but these had to be shooed away from the front steps of our hostess. The remains of the ranch land, most of which had been sold earlier, had been in this family for years.  Janet, who was the mother of my friend and the only resident left on this parcel, greeted us on Monday afternoon and we stayed until Thursday.  We walked down the graveled road, along side trees still laden with yellow leaves, and crossed Big Goose Creek to find more ranch homes nestled at the base of the mountains.  Spectacular country.  While there, we went to a quilt show, traveled to the small mountain town of Story to a quilt shop that was amazing, drilled holes in some glass blocks for Janet, had blackberry apple pie baked by a neighbor bachelor (at 9 o'clock at night) and went for long lazy walks.  I do have pictures on my phone, but haven't taken time to download.  Will do!